Chitra Madhwacharyula A Consultative approach to Problem Solving and Customer Success

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A Consultative Approach: The Way to Successful Customer Engagement

Hello everyone! My name is Chitra Mawa Sharia, the head of Global Customer Success and services at Jovi O Inc, a global leader in the recruitment tech advertising space. We believe being a good consultant to your customers and stakeholders benefits you, your customers, and your company immensely. Today, let's dive into how adopting a consultative approach can add value to your engagement with your audience and stakeholders.

How does a Consultative Approach Benefit Everyone?

Adopting a consultative approach positions you as a trusted advisor to your customers, enabling you to guide them through their current pain points, and anticipate potential future issues. What’s the advantage for customers? They get access to an expert they trust who provides actionable guidance. This approach builds your credibility and trust faster with your target audience, translating to better results and more engaged customers, ensuring your professional success.

What is Consulting?

In theory, consulting involves giving expert advice. But in practice, it's about being trusted to guide others from their current state to a desired one. This position offers you tremendous power and influence in your interactions. As Uncle Ben advised Peter Parker a.k.a. Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Essentially, this is what consulting is all about.

Understanding Your Customer

  1. Decision Makers: Typically members of the leadership team who make the final decisions
  2. Day-to-day users: Those who can influence decision-makers with their feedback on your products
  3. Your champions: Genuine supporters who have experienced value from your products and services in the past and trust in the value you provide.

It's crucial to understand your target audience in your customer’s team, their expectations and their definition of a successful outcome from your engagement.

Building a Consultative Mindset

Building a consultative mindset involves shifting from short-term, transactional thinking to an outlook that is strategic and big-picture focused. You make the transition from being a vendor to becoming a partner and trusted advisor. A good starting point is by putting yourself in your customer's shoes. This reframes how you apply your problem-solving mindset to add value to your customers.

The growth to aim for is not your own or your company’s but that of your customer. Your growth or expansion will be a by-product of your customer's success. Ask well-thought-out questions that understand your customer’s overarching goals and needs, then provide clear and actionable guidance.

Cultivate a consultative mindset by focusing on why the client is looking to buy or has bought your product. What are their main motivations or drivers? Understand the company culture, history, fears, and goals. Identify the main stakeholders and assess current and future customer needs. Earn your customer's trust by becoming an expert not only in your own products and services but also in your customer's domain. This will enable you to effectively guide them on how they can achieve the best possible outcomes with your products and services.

Finally, remember the importance of building trust and empathy for your customers. If your customers like you, they will listen to you. But if they trust you, they'll do business with you. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn for more insights.


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